The Case Of The Missing Holts
by just fan things
Summary: Matthew and Samuel Holt, two of the best detectives in the city have gone missing and after a year of pursuit the case is determined to be cold.Unwilling to give up Katie Holt goes undercover to uncover the truth. Along with a few cops, an old friend, and a rouge agent she may get into the case faster than she expected, the only problem is it's far bigger than anyone could imagine.
1. Somethings to Know

Everyone is aged up a bit to fit the story.  
Katie/pidge: 16  
Lance: 20  
Hunk:20  
Keith:20  
Shiro:30  
Allura:32  
Coran:40

There is also going to be a lot of swearing, drinking, underage drinking, and things that tend to follow with a typical crime noir.  
This story is also based off of an art series called "detective Shiro and the missing holts" (link: post/158372987447/detective-shiro-and-the-case-of-the-missing-holts) I will be adding them to the beginning of the first few chapters as well.  
but I switched a few things to fit my head canons a bit which will be obvious as the story goes on, also for the most part clothing style is going to stay similar to the art.  
The updates may be slow but the chapters should be long (like 2K-4K words each is my goal)


	2. On the Hunt

Purple. It used to be a simple color. One that faded into the background, never to be thought of again. Not hated nor loved, just there.  
That is until I got the purple note with black ink telling me that my family was missing. A note was how I found out, not from the cops or even from a group demanding ransom. Just a note in the mail from the local police department telling me my world was gone.

Why purple of all things? I never knew.  
My brother and father were, are, the best detectives in the unit. This wasn't some accident. When I went looking for answers and was shut out that I knew something was up. After almost a year the cops decided to call it a cold case, to much public outrage.  
They couldn't help it, there were no leads and little to no evidence. The only thing they had was an eye witness who saw them on the beach at 4am with a dark figure, both appeared to be drunk due to their wobbly steps. They walked along the stretch until they were out of sight from the anonymous witness.

Mysteriously it was ruled an accidental death at the end, with claims that my brother and father must have drowned in the ocean because they were drunk.  
It was like they hadn't grown up in the same town and on the same beach where they disappeared, like they didn't know better than to drink and swim, like they hadn't already lost someone the same way.

But with nothing left to do I started looking for my own leads.

It took me about a week to come up with a list, people who were arrested on their account or people who held grudges topped it. It was pretty long at first but most of them had to be ruled out.

The problem was that a majority of people were in jail or had been cleared due to strong alibis. I had to reach a bit deeper to figure out where they were.

My family wasn't stupid, they wouldn't just wander off with some one or get lost, especially not when they were having trouble even walking. No, it had to be someone they knew and trusted to a certain extent.

They had many people like that.  
Most of whom had some rock solid alibis themselves. Some did not. Only about two people seemed to fit this list, no matter how shaky it was.

I decided to follow one of those very people, Takashi Shirogane. It hadn't been long but I was hoping my small disguise would be enough so he wouldn't recognize me.  
We had never really met but my dad had a picture of me and my brother on his desk and I was often confused for Matt when my hair was up.  
I hid away my brown hair in a dark green cap and put on some glasses with large frames, this would cover some of my more defined features. I was also wearing an oversized green hoodie with pockets big enough to hide a notebook and a pen. With this I didn't even look like the same person, I almost felt the need to go by a nickname. It didn't take long to track him down and figure out his regular schedule, the man was practically a machine of habit.

I had been tailing him for a bit, right now he was walking along the beach drinking coffee, nothing new.  
I looked down at my notes to see if I had missed anything.

 _late 20s early 30s hard to tell at first due to the premature gray hair. It's the wild under cut that gives away his youth. A prosthetic arm on the right, a scar across his nose._  
 _Head of the Altean police department_  
 _Motives: he was feeling threatened by their success on the mob cases?_

Maybe it was a reach but as of now I couldn't find many more suspects. I didn't know very much about that case because Dad and Matt never talked about their cases at home. But finding and arresting half of the Galra mob in a week was bound to make big news.

He lately seemed to be on the verge of running too. Like he was hiding something. He had started taking fewer cases lately, not that we got a lot in this town. Just the occasional theft or vandalism.  
A case like the Holts was monumental and yet he wasn't following it, maybe because he has personal connections. But everyone in the department had connections and no one was rushing to get someone new on the case.

I looked at him, he had seen better days, his eyes had bags and from the looks of it he may have slept in his current outfit. Why was he so nervous?

He dumped what remained of his drink in a nearby trashcan and kept walking, he turned off the beach and headed to the board walk. Maybe he was actually going to work? I picked up the pace and put on my earbuds and pretended to text, one hand shoved deep into the pocket of my green hoodie, trying to look as casual as possible.

The boardwalk was crowded as always, just because it never gets warm enough to actually swim doesn't mean tourists and residents alike won't flock over to try. His tall stature made him easy to spot as he walked around the crowd with practiced ease. My 4ft 9 height made it a bit more difficult to do.

He strutted down the walk with a fast pace, constantly weaving about. Almost like he was trying to shake some one off, could be me.  
He took a sharp turn to the right, I made mine more gradual. Then he suddenly veered off to an alley way.  
Forgetting all pretense of staying hidden I barreled after him, at least as best I could.

When I reached the alley he was gone. "Damn!" I cursed under my breath.

I turned to leave when I felt a hand on my shoulder, "So why is a kid following me?" Takashi asked.

I spun around and saw him, his posture was relaxed but his eyes were hard. He had been in a small nook that led to a door.

"You aren't very sneaky you know, being short doesn't make you invisible. I saw you at the coffee shop this morning, I knew you were following me all day." He said hand still on my shoulder, his grip was tight.

I lowered my head to hide my smirk, my pride was fragile, "All week."

His grip relaxed and he took half a step to me. "What?"

I looked at him, my smirk growing and said, "I have been on your tail all week."

He snorted, "Yeah right kid, I saw you clear as day this morning."

I pulled out my notebook and read, " _Monday 7am coffee shop, a large black coffee and a walk on the beach then work, no case for the day just paper work stays till midnight. Tuesday also 7 coffee shop again this time espresso and skip the walk straight to work, still just paper work midnight again. Wednesday, diner this time, pay day, eats eggs and pancakes with a large black coffee more paperwork till midnight._ I could go on." I flipped it closed my smirk even bigger.

He was looking at me in shock. "You know giving away all your intel is bad practice."

This surprised me, he was shocked I gave away info? He wasn't surprised about everything I saw?  
It felt like he was teaching me more than scolding, what was up with this guy? Who finds out they had been followed all week just to scold the stalker on their work?

"Doesn't matter." I retorted, stubborn as ever. "My suspicion has cleared, I don't need to keep following you."

I knew it was true as I said it, no one who kidnaps others would be so calm after having been followed. I brushed his hand off of my shoulder and tried once again to leave, a pit in my stomach to accompany me.

"Hey wait," Takashi called, "Suspect me of what exactly?"

"Doesn't matter." I repeated, "I'm not gonna follow you anymore, I apologize it was my mistake." Maybe if I ran off he would lose me and I wouldn't be arrested.

Of course as I had learned he was nothing if not persistent in even the most menial of tasks and he followed me out of the alley and down to the beach. This time I was weaving about trying to lose someone.

"I'm not gonna leave until you tell me, I'm a cop you know I could arrest you for stalking and harassment." He said at my heels, he almost seemed like he didn't want to arrest me, "Why is a kid accusing me of something? Especially one I've never met?"

I huffed and turned to him, stopping completely like an asshole, "For your information dipshit I'm 16, almost 17 so I'm not just some kid."

I hated when people did things like that, treat me younger than I am because I'm short. With that often came the disbelief in my abilities.

"Okay my bad then." He said with a smile. "Now tell me why you were stalking me or I will arrest you."

"You know," I countered, "You seem to be taking being stalked a little to well. Most people would freak the fuck out."

"Well I'm not most people", He said grabbing my shoulder again, "and since you clearly won't talk we will have to do this the hard way."

With that he grabbed my wrist and stuck on a pair of cuffs, "H-hey wait..." I said starting to struggle.

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. The choice is up to you though", He said calmly leading me to the station.

I gave up the struggle, the man was twice my size. Even with a fake arm I doubted I could do much to get away.  
I wanted to argue that it wasn't fair, but I had been stalking him, and it had been for a week.  
 _But with good intentions!_ I tried to reason, it was flimsy as hell though.

I was dumb why didn't I just try to play it off, why did I give away my whole plan? Pride thats why, my mom had always said the my pride would be the death of me.  
Well now it's getting me arrested.  
I sulked and allowed him to lead me to the station. They asked me for a guardians number so I gave them a dud that lead to my friend.  
*************

It took a few hours for the department to process all the information, first they confiscated my things as evidence and then locked me in a questioning room.

I glared at the one way glass, hoping he was on the other side. I had said sorry hadn't I? It's not like I stole his shit or took pictures of him in the bath.  
Of course it was probably a little invasive of me to do in the first place, but what if he had kidnapped my family? What then?  
Well then it would have been worth it.

The door clicked open and in came two men in police uniforms.  
One was tall and lanky, he looked like a green bean. The other was large and had soft features.

"Okay mam lets get down too it, first of all we have an alleged confession from you outside this room from an eyewitness to your crime, secondly we have discovered jarring details into the personal life of your victim-" the lanky one started, obviously bad cop.

"Okay cool, you have evidence and a confession. What's stopping you from locking me up right now?" I interrupted. They exchanged glances, trying to decide what to say, they must be new.

"By request of a third party we are not to arrest you until we have a motive and a name." The bigger one said giving me a small smile. He was playing the good cop. The whole ruse would have been way more effective had the switched roles.

"Third party my ass, Takashi just wants to know why I stalked him. He's probably scared or something." I said, turning to the glass I yelled, knowing he had to be watching, "If you have nothing to hide then there is no reason to be scared!"

Lanky man sighed, "Listen miss, you're in a lot of trouble here. Smart comments won't help your case. So tell us why you were stalking the head detective of the Altean police force."

I shrugged and sat quietly for a bit, letting them stew, deciding if I should just tell them. My hand started to fiddle with my hat, under which my long hair was tucked. Maybe this whole I could keep acting tough, but where would that get me? I was going to jail, something I didn't want to resign myself too. Being incarcerated would make finding my family almost impossible, not to mention all of their enemies would be there and that would be hell.

I shook my head and sighed, no point fighting anymore, my fate was sealed because I'm an idiot who put my pride ahead of my job.

"Shame he's not putting two and two together." I said still starting at the glass. "After all he did work with my dad and brother for years."

The cops stared at me, the bad cop started whispering frantically to the good one. I reached up and removed my hat, not caring anymore about what would happen.  
My long hair tumbled down my back and rested past my shoulders, it was curled slightly from being kept up for so long.

"My name is Kathryn Holt, I am looking for Samuel and Matt Holt. I suspected Takashi Shirogane as a suspect due to his closeness to them. However my suspicion is gone and I realize my mistake. So boys, throw me in the slammer already." I said, looking at the table.

The two left for a while after that. When they came back their faces were inscrutable.


	3. The Art of Lying

"There won't be any pressed charges, you are free to go but must wait on a parent or guardian to come and get you." Said green bean.

I jumped up and waltzed out the door. On the other side of the glass stood Takashi, as expected, and a man with orange hair and a large mustache. Both had frowns and watched me leave.

I sat down at the front of the building and waited, hoping he would get here soon.  
Around me everyone was working, ignoring me for the most part.  
The tall cop was messing around with the bigger one, both had face splitting grins as they joked around the coffee machine.

Takashi was in his own office, door shut having what looked like a heated conversation with mustache man. Looking around I saw something that made my heart leap into my throat, two desks facing each other, both had a layer of dust coating the surface.

Looking around no one was paying me any attention so I got up and looked at my fathers desk. The picture frame of Matt and I was positioned so that you had to see it, even if you were just passing by. Other than the dust his desk was immaculate, everything was organized and positioned in the most efficient way.  
Matts on the other hand was still cluttered, his pens and papers were strewn about and all his personal items were suffocated in the mess.  
I picked up the picture and cleared the glass, smiling at the memory. We had gone to get Matt from space camp years ago, and mom had insisted that we get a picture with the rocket. That was back when I wore dresses, this one was purple. I was practically hanging off of him.

 _Why hadn't they cleared off their desks? It had been a year, why keep their stuff out if they were ruled dead?_

"You look like some one kicked your puppy." Someone said startling me out of my thoughts, it was bad cop. "Names Lance by the way and my partner is Hunk."

He reached out a hand, with out my notice both of them had come up behind me.  
I just stared at them, they should be pissed that I, an actual criminal, was walking free. But instead they seemed almost happy.

"She's probably a bit shy, after all we did just interrogate her." Said the large one, Hunk. He turned to me, "Hey sorry of we were rough back there, it was our first time doing an actual interrogation."

"Hunk you can't go saying things like that. We have to keep up an image of tough cops."

I snorted and turned back to the desks, ignoring them. This little piece of my family, one I hadn't really seen that much, was still carved into this station. That had to mean I wasn't the only one looking.

"Why are these desks still set up?" I asked without turning.

"Shiro hasn't given the order yet to clear them." Lance answered.  
Maybe he was looking too? After all my dad had talked about him if only briefly. Both Matt and my father had been secretive of their work so just a brief mention held a lot of ground to me.

"Katie! C'mon lets go." A voice called out. I turned, it was Keith. Putting the picture back in place I strode past Hunk and Lance, hand still out, and made my way to Keith. Evidently he had already done the paperwork because we just turned and walked away from the lady at the desk.

"You're a fucking idiot you know that." Keith said once we were in his car, away from prying ears. "You stalk a cop and then ask me of all people to come and get you! If anyone had put two and two together I would have been locked up."

"Sorry, it's not like I have anyone else to call, and no one at the station knows your a Galra defective. I looked through all my dads files about them, you never turned up."

Keith started the car and huffed, not done ranting, "Another thing, who just keeps shit like that on a personal laptop? It's fucking stupid. And besides I still have the tattoo, if anyone had seen it they would have known right away. It's not like tattoo removal is cheap."

I rolled my eyes and curled up in the seat, like I usually do, with my feet tucked under me and my back against the door. "You have on a jacket, that covers you bicep. No one would have seen it, you need to chill the fuck out."  
I looked at his green and white jacket. The hood that so often adorned his head had turned to a more eggshell color. The orange bands around the arms signified his attempt to personalize it. The jacket was perhaps the most sentimental thing he owned, and yet he never told me anything about it other than that it was a gift from long ago.

"Put on a damn seatbelt kid, this ain't exactly an impenetrable fortress." Keith said reaching over and buckling me in, his eyes still on the road. Normally I would have balked at being called a kid, but Keith had certain liberties I gave him in exchange for ones he gave me. "You owe me big time, got that? I'm thinking dinner for the night, with dessert!"

"Yeah yeah, what ever you want. You're welcome to binge at casa de Katie for the night." I said adjusting the belt.

He grinned at the thought, I didn't have the heart to tell him I hadn't been to the store in almost a month. He'd figure out soon enough though.

"If you're so worried about the cops finding you what will you do if the Galra find you?" I asked.

"Because the branch I was apart of is in Crockett Texas, no where near Altea Delaware." Keith scoffed. He was always one for specifics. It was like he had mapped out exactly how many miles away he would be from them.  
He rarely wanted to talk about his time as a Galra gang member, when he did his eyes took on a haunted expression and his face tightened. What ever he had done or seen had to have been brutal.

Keith and I had met almost a month after my family vanished, I had been in the middle of stalking another suspect when I noticed his tattoo peeking out of his shirt, he had been doing some yard work for a neighborhood in order to make some money. Like me he was as off the grid as possible.

I had cornered him in an alley way and he told me his story, how he couldn't take the gang anymore, how he didn't have a choice but to get as far away as possible. After that he became an informant on Galra plans and movements, all branches tended to be similarly run.  
I liked to think of him as a good friend and knew for a fact he thought so too.

"By the way, those cops you were talking too, they were... interesting." Keith said breaking my thoughts. I laughed when I saw the slight blush on his cheeks.

"Yeah they were something" I replied.

It didn't take long to get to my apartment. I had to fake an ID almost a year ago to get it, but I had no where else to go.  
I unlocked the door and collapsed on a chair. The furniture was mix matched as stuff I had taken from my actual house and things Keith and I had "liberated" from several show room apartments. Keith was already digging in the fridge.

"Man you don't have jack." He said with a container of chocolate ice cream in hand. "When was the last time you ate, like, real food?"

I merely shrugged, exhaustion was taking over me.  
Truthfully food was always the last thing I thought about these days.

"That's not healthy you know." He said with a large scoop of ice cream in his mouth.

"Says the one eating frozen milk and sugar."

He just passed by me and flopped on the couch, remote in hand to turn on my tiny ass tv.  
He started flipping through channels with ease. It was obvious he would be lost for a while so I left him to go shower.

The department had kept my note book but gave me back everything else, all of which I threw on my bed.

It took a minute for the water to heat up and after it did I just let the warm liquid beat against my face.

 _It had been a year, if whoever had taken my family wanted something why hadn't they reached out yet? There have been no ransom letters or threats, just silence. If they didn't want anything then it would mean that-_

 _No they aren't dead, there is something going on I know it and I will get to the bottom of it._

After the warm water started to run out I left. I toweled off my hair and got dressed in black sweats and a green tank top, no plans to leave for the night. Looking out I saw that Keith had passed out on the couch, ice cream was dripping on his chest.  
Sighing I put the carton away and got out my quilt and tossed it over him, then I turned off the tv and went to my bed.  
It would be a cold night considering he had my only blanket.

"Yeah but we can't hurt her..." "shut up don't wake the bitch up..."  
"If you two don't fucking focus I swear..."

Voices hissed in and out of my ear, what a weird dream this is.  
Everything is black but the voices are white and blue and purple. Maybe they were going to show me some kind of magic? That was always something I dreamed about, a far off place with magic abilities and for some reason a giant Green robotic lion.

Suddenly hands were on me. Two covered my mouth and there was one holding each limb. My eyes shot open and I began to struggle and scream against the hands. My captors were strong and I couldn't escape.  
They tied my legs together put on a  
Real gag, and tied my hands behind my back, one picked me up like a football.

My heart raced and I searched for anything to help me. I struggled and flailed and screamed but nothing seemed to be working.

Suddenly I was face to face with the carpet, the sound of flesh hitting flesh met my ears. My cheek and nose stung and I tasted blood.  
There was scuffling and cursing.  
I struggled to get up but to no avail, my wrists and ankles were still tightly bound.

The fighting made its way into the living room, the sound of glass smashing told me my tv was no more.  
The front door opened.

"Yeah you better fucking run, I see you bastards again and you're dead!" Keith yelled out the door amid the sounds of retreating footsteps.  
Quickly he ran back to me and cut off the ropes, he always had a knife on him.

"You okay, they didn't hurt you did they?" He asked concerned.

I reached up to wipe away the nose bleed, "Just some damage from falling on the carpet. Plus you know, a new lack of comfort in my own home."

Keith chuckled a bit and handed me a napkin. "I'm pretty sure those guys were apart of some group. But how did they not see you?"

"Shit I was taking a leak when I heard them whispering." Keith replied. "Katie I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty sure they were Galra goons."

I sat on the edge of my bed to take that in, Galra. Of course I had expected something like this. That was why I made myself scarce, hard to find. If they were willing to take my family what was stopping them from wanting me too?

I felt my hands start to shake, if they wanted me it means my dad and brother weren't being very useful. They had to be alive, why else would they wait so long to try and kidnap a teenager?

"C'mon I don't want you staying here anymore." Keith said grabbing my hand. I nodded and grabbed a small suitcase, I was able to fit all my clothes and toiletries in it. Looking back I saw my phone and headphones still on the bed and scooped them into my pocket.  
Keith had gone to get my quilt and load up what food I had.

We then got into his car and headed to his place. I didn't bother locking or even closing the door, I wouldn't come back. Keith kept glancing over at me, not even bothering to tell me to buckle up.  
I stayed in my usual curled position and stared out the window.  
 _If the Galra wanted me then what would stop them? Would I ever be safe? Would it be better to leave the state? No if I left no one would be looking for dad and Matt._

Because Keith lived outside of town it took a while to reach his place. It was a small one roomed shack on the beach, no one was around for a good few miles. I suspected he had built it himself but he never said how he found it.  
After getting in he made a nest of pillows on the floor, if there was one thing the man had it was pillows.

"You can take the bed tonight, tomorrow I'll look for an air mattress or something." Keith said. With out a word I collapsed on the bed and stared at the ceiling. "Are you sure you're okay?"

I just nodded, it became clear I was too deep in thought to talk so he just curled up on the nest and went to sleep.

After about an hour of just staring at the ceiling I got up and went to Keith's desk, opening the well worn bottom drawer I got out the smallest knife he had.  
I then got my phone and went out the back door, flipping on the outdoor light as I went. Because the phone, like many things I owned, was acquired it wasn't set up with an actual number so I used it for music and news. I pulled out the camera and balanced it on the trash can until I got a good view.

It was then with a heavy heart that I started hacking away my long tresses. I had spent years growing it out, long hair had been a childhood dream of mine. I did it because I was tired of being mixed up with Matt, but now it hardly mattered.

My safety, maybe even my life, was being threatened. The only way to protect myself is to leave my life behind.

" _You looked like a baby bird, all fuzzy and noisy. I used to call you little pigeon, your eyes always lit up like those birds."_  
A new identity, a new life. That's what I needed.

If there is one thing I had learned it's that the Galra don't give up easily and if they wanted Katie Holt I would have to kill Katie Holt.  
After I finished my hair, it looked choppy and uneven, I stared at my reflection.

 _Nice to meet you Pidge Gunderson_


	4. Screw it

"Damn you are committed aren't you?" Keith said in shock. I shrugged again, my neck felt cold. All night I had stayed up running my hands through my hair, it was in a pixie cut now. The lowest part was maybe halfway down my neck. My mind had been racing so fast sleep was impossible.  
Keith was currently standing over me and I was on the edge of his bed, he was touching my head and trying to take it all in. I hadn't thought cutting my hair would be as big a deal as it was, but I felt like I had severed more than some dead keratin, it was as if I had removed a piece of myself. Growing my hair out had taken me years, it was something I was so used too.

But to get help, to find my family, I would have no choice but to cut away something of myself. The only question was how far would I have to go?  
 _I need someone with more connections to help me. Keith was helpful, he knows a lot about the Galra, but I need someone who has more._

"I need a disguise so I can stay in the city." I replied after my thoughts ended.

"Your family is really more important to you than your life?" Keith said crossing his arms, "Would they actually agree with your choices?"  
I chewed my bottom lip, no they wouldn't they would be pissed. But I can't give up, they are the only people I have left.

"So why Pidge Gunderson?"

"Pidge is an old nickname and Gunderson is my mothers maiden name." I explained, leaving out the actual sentimentality it held. He didn't pry, as shitty as Keith's social skills were he knew when to stop asking.

"You never talk about your mother." He noted nonchalantly. I looked down at my lap and clenched my fists, this was a touchy subject, but I was the one who brought it up.

"You never ask. Besides it's not really something I want to talk about."  
Keith nodded his head knowingly, like he knew what it was like. Of course he doesn't, no one can even begin know what I've been through. I had always felt isolated since I lost my family, no one could understand that. Not even Keith.

 _Who could I go too? I need someone else someone with actual intel and knowledge on detective work._

I got up and got dressed, my clothing choice was small so it was back into the hoodie and black jeans, which is perhaps my favorite outfit. _When was the last time I even cleaned this?_  
Keith was inspecting my food, trying to scrounge up a meal. He didn't really have anything either besides some bottles that I suspected held more than water. He seemed to have his own demons he refused to face, not that I could blame him after everything he went through.

"Here we have some apples and a bag of peanuts." He said offering it to me. I took the apple but cringed away from the peanuts, way to dry. Why I even bought them was a mystery to me. I bit into the apple and let the burst of juice fill my mouth while Keith binged on the nuts.

We ate quietly so my thoughts began to wander again, to the previous night and that morning. What Taksahi had said really struck me, "being short doesn't make you invisible" why had he spotted me so well that day, but not prior? He had to know a lot about this sort of thing, he was a cop after all.  
 _What if I went to... no he wouldn't help me. But if I was able to convince him then maybe, just maybe it could work._

After our impromptu sort of breakfast I stood, my mind was made up. I made my way to the door while Keith was bent over straightening his nest.

"Where the fuck are you going?" Keith asked making me jump. I looked over at him, he was still busy with his pillows.

"I'm heading out." I said as casually as possible.

"Uh. Yeah not alone." He said finally looking at me.

"Last time I checked I go where I fucking want to."

"I'm going with you."

"Yeah but they saw y-" I started before Keith strode by me and started digging in his trunk. He pulled out some black jeans and a matching shirt, he then pulled out the most 80s thing I had ever seen.

"That is the most 80's fucking thing I have ever seen." I told him. He just scoffed and put on a red half jacket. It was weird seeing him without his green one, but this new outfit suited him just as well. As if to make me regret my thoughts he finished his outfit with a pair of fingerless gloves.

I made a grossed out face and he responded by poking his tongue out at me. Why does he even own this outfit?  
Maybe because the dude was still hung up on the 80s, the man had a mullet for Christ sake.

I shook my head and pulled him hat back on, for once noting the lack of effort to keep it on without my long hair. We looked at each other and I nodded, ready to leave.

"Well K-Pidge lead the way." Keith said motioning to the door. Rolling my eyes I left and started heading toward the boardwalk.

It was 8 already so I didn't expect to find him but there he was seated in the cafe with a large coffee and the morning news, tucked in the corner booth. He was still in the same outfit as before. I motioned for Keith to follow me and we went in, Takashi didn't seem to notice.

Because the booth was in the corner it made it hard to actually sneak up on him. As quietly and discreetly as possible I took the seat across from him and Keith sat by his side, effectively trapping him.

His head shot up and I saw he had half a donut in his mouth. He took a moment to be confused before he gave a small smile, something that should hard with food hanging from his mouth but he did it with grace.

"Fancy seeing you here, guess your still hell bent on following me?" He said putting down his pastry and folding his paper.

"No I'm here to ask for help." I replied simply. Taksahi sat back and crossed his arms. He made eye contact with Keith as if trying to gauge how serious I was being. Keith just shrugged with a smirk, bastard. Of course he wouldn't help me, Keith was terrified of cops. Maybe even more so than his old Galra gang. To him the idea of rotting in a prison cell is more horrifying than being beaten up on a daily basis for months on end should he ever be discovered.

"Uh-huh. Why should I help you? You stalked me remember." Taksahi said pulling me back to the present.

I snorted and leaned forward, "Last I checked Taksahi no charges were pressed, and besides I think this may be of interest to you; Samuel and Matthew Holt are still alive."

"And what makes you so certain?" He said, not even shocked by my revelation.

"Because last night the goons who took them tried to take me, if they were dead there would be no use for me."

He chuckled but his eyes were troubled, "Unless they wanted to finish the job. It's not like you aren't all that noticeable Katie."

I bit back a withering retort, _sass will get you no where,_ and contemplated my next move. This was where all my plans would be put to the test.

I removed my hat much to his surprise and said, "It not Katie, the name is Pidge and I'm here to hire you as my private detective to follow up the Holt case."  
Keith picked up what was left of the doughnut and began eating it, content with his new snack. Takashi didn't even try to stop him.

He sat for a moment pondering my words. His face scrunched up in thought, his eyes were put of focus and he seemed to be having a large internal battle. I gave him the time to think, never breaking eye contact, as if daring him to say yes.

"Fist things first, call me Shiro. I don't much like using my full name, to big." He said suddenly, "Second thing, I don't do private cases unless I have a good reason too. Finally, who's the friend?" He motioned toward Keith with a jerk of the head.

I bored into his eyes, there was a glint of a smile in them. Smirking I replied, "This is Keith, he's been like family to me for a while." The aforementioned man jerked his head up when I said this, a bit of shock lingered in his eyes. I had told him he was a good friend, but never told him I saw him as family.  
Shaking my head I stared back at Shiro, my excitement was evident. _Finally I will make some head way on my family, finally someone is willing to help me. This was the chance I had been waiting for for over a year._

"Well, what are we waiting for? Lets get started Shiro. We have a lot of work to do."

I stood up and Keith followed suit, Shiro took a second to drain the last of his coffee and leave some money on the table. Together we exited the diner, thoughts of our work weighing on our minds.

All of us were blissfully unaware of the blue-green eyes that watched us, calculating our every move and honing in on our words and preparing for the chance to strike.


	5. A Little Trust

Shiro took led us the few blocks to the station and it didn't take long to reach it, everything in this town was close together and easy to spot. But the problem with beach cities is no matter how cold or small people have the unrelenting urge to paint every thing with bright colors that inexplicably fade and never bother to fix it.

As Shiro and I went in Kieth stayed stubbornly outside, we had a fierce but silent battle with our eyes until I relented to letting him stay out. A small feeling of unease filled my stomach, maybe it's because walking into a sky blue police station that had once been turquoise is still a feeling I can never get over; the more likely reason is probably because the last time I was here was in cuffs.

"Hey look who's back." Someone called out after I walked in. I turned and saw the teddy bear cop from yesterday, I think his name was Hank?

"Hunk do you think you could finish the Luxia file for me? I've got something's to do." Shiro said before I could respond. He quickly ushered me into his office and shut the door. He sighed a bit before he turned to me. "I'm going to put a lot on the line with this so everything stays between us okay?"

I stayed silent and he took that as confirmation. He reached down and pulled out the bottom drawer on his desk and pulled out a black file and placed it on his desk. I noticed that desks can tell you a lot about a person. Most of his things were in piles, I assumed they were his way of trying to organize his things. It looked half-hearted at best.

Shiro shook me from my thoughts, "Go ahead and open it, this is all the information on the case. Nothing is left out."

I greedily opened it up, excited to see everything they had. To my disappointment I saw only on page and a tape recorder. On the page stated the facts of the case, Two men disappeared one around 30 and the other 50. Last seen on the beach supposedly drunk,blah blah blah. Nothing was new.

I stared accusingly at Shiro, "Is this a joke? All of this was publicly released. In over a year of looking and you have one fucking page!" I was yelling but I didn't care.

"Why do you think it was dropped?" He replied calmly. He nodded to the recorder, "That has the witness statement."

I swallowed and picked it up. The recorder had a set of headphones that I immediately put on.

 _"Okay statement one witness one, Go ahead and speak we need your name, date of birth..."_ The voice went on but I zoned a bit, it was familiar. The cop was Hunk! _"My name is Blumfump Sirèn I am 35..."_ I sped past that part. _" What is it you saw?" Hunk asked. "Two men were walking along the beach with a larger hooded figure. I recognized them as detective Samuel and Matthew Holt. Both men were stumbling around and I was sure they were drunk. They seemed to be heading towards the cove caves just past the boardwalk."_

Hunk thanked him for the statement and the recording stopped. "I'm assuming you have already gone back to Blumfump?'

Shiro just nodded. "We've had him describe the suspect many times and we've tore through the area and inspected every inch of it. We came up with nothing, it was like they had just vanished.

"Look I never believed that they were dead, I still don't, but we have almost nothing on it and finding them will be hard. If you want to help you can but you have to follow police procedure, no more stalking random people."

"Okay, thank you Shiro. I'm glad you showed me this, I want your help on this so I'll follow you r procedures."

He smiled and leaned back in his chair, "So Pidge what do you want your first move to be?"

"Lets talk to Blumfump, I feel like he might know more of we ask the right questions."

"Okay, we can go talk to him tomorrow, I have the day off and it wont draw any suspicion. We aren't supposed to be on this case remember." He replied.

I took that as a cue to leave, the file was still in my hand. As I left I looked around, the place was chaotic in a sense. Aside from the Chief and Head detective offices, which were across from each other, there was a small forensics lab, a storage room and a door that led to cells and interrogation. In the middle of all that were about fifteen desks all smushed together in rows for the cops to work in. The front desk roped the office off from the lobby. There was a sort of break station with a coffee machine and a water tank in the corner by the front desk. Surrounding that was Hunk and Lance, talking and laughing.

I went up to them, "Hunk right? You interviewed the suspect for the Holt case right?"

He stared at me and smiled, "Yeah, I never wanted to drop the case but we didn't have any real choice. I'm sorry, I want to find your family I really do but I can't disobey the Chief."

I bit my lip, so it was Iverson who closed the case. Of course it made sense he was the police chief after all. The man was always jealous of my dad and brother, before he was made chief he was a detective with them and he was never as successful. More of his cases were closed or given away than he solved and a majority of them went to my dad.I had suspected him at first but there was no benefit to their disappearance and no one could be that petty.

 _Now isn't the time, ponder later ask now._ I shook my head and asked, "Did anything about his statement seem a little off? Like he left something out?"

Both men made eye contact and Lance grinned sheepishly, "You are asking a lot of questions kid, why the extra interest?"

"I just want to know." I said glowering at being called kid.

"Blumfump was, well he was a bit eccentric. Honestly I took his statement with a grain of salt." Hunk said. "He didn't leave anything out though, he was so verbose it's hard to doubt any of his statement."

"Thank you." I said and left, the didn't follow me or ask anything else. I strode out and found Keith sitting on the ground and watching the clouds. He looked so serene I didn't want him to stop so I sat next to him. He looked at me but didn't say anything. I could tell he wanted to know what happened even though I knew that now he wouldn't help anymore, at least not directly.

I took a deep breath and took the plunge anyways, "Shiro is helping me take the case."

He snorted and shook his head, "And you trust him?" I looked at him and his eyes bored into mine.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Because Pidge, it's been a year since they vanished and almost a month since they called it off, why would you make much of a difference? He's up to something I know it."

How could he say this? After all my searching he is so ready to dismiss any help I get. I furrowed my brows and blinked back angry tears. "So I get some help that you don't like so you try to keep me away?"

"Pidge that's not what I'm doing, all I'm saying is I don't like this. What if he wants revenge for you stalking him? He could be messing with you."

"You know what," I yelled standing up, I don't need him, "Fuck you Keith!"

"Pidge, Pidge wait a second." He said as I began to storm off. I didn't care if I was overreacting. I didn't care that I had nowhere to go.

I didn't stop walking until I was at the boardwalk, a few blocks from the station. I sat at a bench and sulked. _Stupid Keith and his stupid mullet what did he know about police work?_ I slid down until my lower back was on the bench and I stared at the sky, looking at the same dust and water particles from before. _Oh look, a boat._ I thought bitterly.

I don't know how long I sat there until I was accompanied by a woman. I didn't really pay any attention to her until she started to speak.

"Lovely day isn't it?" She asked in an accent. I grunted in reply and looked at her properly, she had a white hair and dark skin. Her shirt was blue and short sleeved with matching shorts and white sandals on her feet. She was staring at me intently almost like she was trying to memorize my face.

Suddenly she said, "You remind me of a young boy I have been trying to find. He has the same hair and eyes. Do you know him? His name is Matthew Holt."

I shot up and stared at her, unease creeping into my chest. I turned and started to run in an attempt to lose her. She followed me of course and I couldn't shake her no matter how hard I tried to shake her.

"Could you hold up a moment? Please I really am trying to help." The woman called. I didn't stop until a pair of arms wrapped around my chest and held me in place. I looked up and saw a man with red hair and a mustache. "Oh good job Corran."

I struggled and elbowed him in the stomach, nothing worked. "Allura you can't just chase any random person off the street. She probably thinks your a Galra spy." Coran grunted.

The woman, Allura, looked appalled at the very notion of being Galra. "Well maybe you shouldn't restrain any random person off the street."

"Let me go!" I yelled. They both looked at me like they had forgotten about me.

"I guess you aren't really him." Allura sighed, "It's a shame I thought you were Matthew Holt."

I struggled again until Corran let me go, "Well I'm not, why are you even looking for him anyways? It's been over a year."

They looked at each other and had a silent conversation. Corran turned to me and asked, "What is your name?"

"I could ask the same as you, who are you and why the special interest?" I countered.

"My name is Allura Altea and this is my uncle Corran Altea. We are special operatives on the case of the Holts." The woman explained.

"Bullshit, the cops dropped the case months ago."

"That's exactly why we are here, this case should never have been dropped. We want to find them and bring down the Galra syndicate." Corran said.

So they were rouge, but were they trust worthy?

"You look so much like Matthew, you must be Katie Holt, his younger sister." Allura stated. "Katie let us help you find him, please we need more people on the case."

I believed them; they had so much conviction it was hard not too. I do need more help and having an agent, FBI probably, would be a whole new level of help even if they were rouge. How many people would I have to bring into this? Should I even tell Shiro about this? What would he say? If I agreed to help what would even happen, would I get new information or just keep going in circles?

I remembered the character study my dad and I did when I was young. He would ask me to figure out what someone was thinking as a game and I got pretty good at it, able to guess a persons shopping list at the store or figure out if some one preferred pancakes to waffles at the diner. Dad always said I was a little prodigy.

I looked at her and tried to deduce her intentions.I looked into her blue eyes and saw such hope, she was pleading with me for help. She asked me because there was no one else, I was her last hope and if I didn't agree she didn't know what she would do. I knew I had little to gain from agreeing information wise, she probably just had what was publicly released.

I rubbed the back of my neck and sighed, looking at both of them. My mind was made up.

"My name is no longer Katie. I am Pidge Gunderson and I agree to help you find my family so long as your intentions are truthful. No lies and no false leads"

Both of them nodded, Corran's eyes filled with tears of joy and Allura cheered.

I imagined myself holding my nose and diving into a murky lake, I don't even know if it has water in it, just that it asked me to jump and I complied with the same desperation it begged me with. What was at the bottom I would have to search for and only hope I had enough air to reach the surface before I drowned.


	6. Betrayal

Blumfump lived on the very edge of the town over his store. His merchandise turned out to be healing shells. Not even crystals, the man sold sea shells less than five miles from a beach. His store also made enough to have stayed in business for over fifty years, or so his sign and Hunk had joined us on the mission seeing as they were on the case as well, I had no complaints.

We walked through the door and were greeted with the clank of a bell tied to the door handle and the ocean. On the inside was tons of selves full of shells. There was a lady at the counter with short yellow hair and an odd forehead piercing of an eye. "Oh, hey there!" she called out in a deep voice.

A man came in with wide eyes and orange hair barking an order at the counter lady before he saw us.

"Welcome my friends it is so good to see you back, oh and it seems you brought someone new!" He called out, "My name is Blumfump and this is Swirn. We are most pleased to have you here."

The two worked their way over to us and vigorously shook my hand. I looked at the others for help and they just smiled.

"Ooohhhh well if it isn't my jellyfish!" A girl suddenly called out. She had blue hair separated into pigtails and blue eyes so light it was was carrying a pail full of shells and her clothes were covered in sand. She ran over to Lance, dropping the bucket, and threw herself into his arms.

"Aw Plaxum you've got sand on your face." Lance said wiping it away with his thumb. Plaxum grinned so big her eyes almost closed.

"Let me show you some of our new items." She said leading Lance away.

"They dated for like a week and soon realized it wouldn't work out so they became friends, they flirt so much though they may as well be dating." Hunk whispered to me. I nodded my thanks and turned back to Blumfump, ready to begin asking questions, when I was intercepted by Swirn.

"Lets read your fortune, I will let you have this one free because it's your first!" She said leading me to a barrel full of colorful shells. They were obviously painted because most were neon colored. "Just reach in until you feel the need to stop."

I did as I was told and the others came over to watch. "Okay now grab a handful of shells and lift your arm out."

After the last shell fell away I was left tightly gripping what felt like small knives. "Now ask a question, verbal or non verbal it doesn't matter."

Ask a question, I've been asking the same one for over a year. _Where is my family?_

"Open one finger, your most powerful one, and let the shells fall away until only one remains."

I chose my middle finger, much to Shiros disapproval and Hunks amusement. The shells fell and when I felt the last one slipping I tightened my grip.

"Let me see." Swirn said, I obliged and handed her the brown shell, one of the few that ahdn't been painted. "Lets see, brown no paint and it's a Shark eye. Your question will only be answered with a lot of sacrifice and perseverance."

I swallowed and felt my heart sink before I remembered, this was a shell. There was nothing that could be gained by looking at a shell and guessing. The only thing that would solve this is triumph and information. I had sacrificed enough already.

She handed the shell back to me and I began to drop it back in the bucket when Swirn cried out, "Don't. Keep it, whenever you need to keep to your goal us this shell as a guide. It will help you." She spoke with such certainty I had no other choice but to put it in my pocket.

"Actually, we wanted to ask you something, it's about the Holt case." Shiro interrupted.

"Well I don't know what else you can glean from me, it's been a year of questions. There isn't much else I can tell you." Blumfump answered.

"This is Pidge, she has some personal connections to the case and we think that with her perspective she might get something new." Hunk said.

"Well Pidge I'll talk with you, why don't we sit in the back so we can talk." Blumfump nodded.

"Lance we are going to the back." Shiro called. Lance waved without looking up, completely engrossed by the shells Plaxum was explaining avidly.

The back turned out to be a small couch, a few beat up chairs, and a rickety coffee table surrounded by even more shells and paint. Swirn moved some buckets of paint off of the chairs and the two workers took the chairs while the rest of us squeezed onto the couch with me in the middle.

"What can you tell me about the man you saw with the Holt's. Any detail matters no matter how small or insignificant." I asked right away.

"Well what can I say, they were tall. Taller than any of the Holt's. The Holt's were walking with them willingly though they stumbled a bit as they walked I don't want to say they were drunk exactly, but no sober man walks like that."

"If I gave you a map could you map out their exact location?" I asked on the edge of my seat.

"Sure thing kiddo, I have a few maps I could mark up for you." He replied and began sorting through a box next to him. I bit my tongue at the title of drew out a map and marker and began making lines and spots. "I knew who it was right away of course because they had walked by me and I knew who they were, the whole town knows the amazing Holt's who arrested half of the local mob. The person with them must have been an outsider though because they were leading them."

He handed me the map and I grimaced at it, it was a tourist type of map with cartoon shells telling me about all the best spots of the place. Ignoring all three of them I followed the red line, past the boardwalk and stopped short of the cove caves.

The rest of the trip was fairly pointless, Blumfump essentially reiterated the same with different wording, he obviously knew nothing more. We left, with a wailing Plaxum demanding Lance come visit more, and went back to the station.

"That was pointless." I stated staring at the map.

"I never said it would help, it's just a place to start." Shrio said steering me away from a pot hole on the side walk.

"Whatever Takashi." I mumbled.  
"I'm serious when I tell you to call me Shiro, only people I consider a friend call me Shiro." He replied, I shrugged but kept a mental note of that. I go from random stalker to a friend in the span of a day, how trusting can a cop be?

"Hey guys, before we go back lets get some lunch. I am starving." Hunk said.

"We ate two hours ago!"Lance exclaimed, "It's still only ten."

"I know but that was then and this is now."

"Okay Hunk we can grab a snack, how do donuts sound?" Shiro intervened.

"Like a huge cliche." I said finally looking up. Shiro shrugged and Lance laughed and threw his arm around my shoulder.

"You know what, I think you're going to fit right in kid." He said. I jabbed his ribs with my elbow but didn't say anything else. These people were closer than just work relations, that much I had always known. The way they interacted reminded me of siblings. The jokes and the banter, non of it was every permanent but it was all a sacred truth. Hunk was always hungry and Lance always had some one new to start dating. Shiro was the older brother who acted more like a dad than necessary. It was a refreshing sight, it made me think of Matt and strangely Keith.

When we got closer to the store the boys instigated a debate over who's turn it was to pay. "I payed last, Shiro it's your turn."

"No way Hunk, I'm the senior officer here so I get to pull rank." Shiro countered even though I saw him reach for his wallet.

"Why not have Pidge pay? She's the new one." Lance said.

"You say that like I actually have cash." I quipped back, "I am fourteen you know."

Lance sighed and nodded. He started a game of rock,paper,scissors with Shiro who lost. After enjoying a few pastries each we went back to the station where Shiro was immediately caught up in work.

Hunk sighed and said, "He never stops, he stays here longer than most janitors do and yet he always seems to be behind."

I shrugged and turned back to my conversation with Lance, about who would win in a fight, Moth-man or Dracula. Hunk sidled off to offer some help to Shiro. I was just explaining the finer points of Moth-mans ass kicking abilities when Hunk pulled Lance away. They began to argue in a whisper and blocked any attempt for me to join the huddle. They were bending over something, a paper of some sort.

Finally Lance broke off, much to Hunks disapproval, and came over to me. He shifted a bit and looked uncomfortable.

"Pidge, I think you should see this." Lance said with a sigh. "This was a memo from Chief Iverson given to Shrio two days ago after you were let go. I found it in the trash."

Curiously I took the paper and read it, my hands started to shake and I felt my stomach drop. _This couldn't be true!_ But when I looked over at Shrio, head stuck in his work I felt the truth in these words hit me like a bat.

"Look, I'm sure it's not what we think..." Hunk began but stopped when he saw the look on my face. An anger I had never felt before took over my body and it took everything in me not to cry.

I nodded my thanks to the guys and stormed over to his office. I pulled the door open and slammed it shut. Shiro looked up at me with a confused smile.

"So this whole fucking time you've been humoring me? For what? So you could get me off your back? So you can try to convince me I will never have a family again?" I yelled with tears blurring my vision, his smile vansihed. "Did you think this would help me? What else are you hiding Takashi?"

I could tell my use of his full name was a blow and I took satisfaction in that.

"No Kat-Katie I" He stuttered shrinking under my rage.

"Don't!" I yelled, "Don't call me that. You never cared. You just wanted to have some fun and so you dragged me along, like a dick. If you had actually cared you wouldn't have betrayed me like this. All this time you weren't working to help me, you just wanted to help yourself."

"That's not true!"Shiro yelled back. I didn't bother trying to read his eyes, he had already proved to me he could lie with ease.

"Oh kiss my ass Takashi, it says it all right here." I threw the order, now balled up, at hit his chest and his face fell as he unfurled it, he kept stuttering trying to convince me he wasn't lying. I turned and left the office purposefully shoving a chair to the ground. "Fuck all of you"

So he was going to play me so the department wouldn't be in trouble for the case. Just use the hurting girl to help fuel the reason to drop the search and get her hopes up, sure that's fine. While you do it why not let the department line your wallet a bit, from the looks of him he could use it.

This was Iversons doing, he had order Shiro to convince me to let my family go in exchange for an extra bonus, that way the department would stop worrying about me following their cops. How could anyone ask for something so cruel, how could any one agree to it?

I walked up to the police chiefs office, not bothering to knock, and stormed in.

"What do you want?" Iverson asked.

With out a word I swept all his things, the nameplate, the files, and his out dated computer, everything to the floor with a huge crash. The computer would never work again, all that data was lost.

"Miss Holt what are yo-" He began. I turned and stormed out, the entire department was staring. I didn't care.

I left the building and went to find Corran and ask to get started right away. I didn't need anyone anymore, I still had the file, Allura was still by my side. I can do this alone and by god I will solve this case.

"Pidge, Pidge wait!" A voice calls out, it was Lance, "I'm going with you. Look wh-what Shiro did was cruel but I'm not gonna let you run off, not when something bad could happen to you."

I gave him a questioning look to which he replied, "You remind me of my little sister and I like you, you're a good person. Hunk would't come, not that I stuck around to ask, he doesn't want to get in trouble. He needs this job because he is sending money back to his family in Hawaii and can't risk it. I have nothing to risk, and besides friends come before anything else."

"I'm your friend?" I asked abruptly, pissed at how my voice shook. Lance gave me a sad smile and nodded. I took a deep breath. Every second felt like a rubber band being stretched further. Any moment I would break and it wasn't going to be in front of anyone.

I let Lance walk with me in silence until we reached the hotel I was staying at. After he said good bye and made sure I was alright he left. I went into the bathroom and turned on the sink, then I broke. I let out all of my anger and frustration. I sobbed until there was nothing left and I still felt empty. I still felt sadness purring away in my chest, its claws dug into my throat and it refused to leave. Maybe it would never leave, maybe I didn't want it too.

Because after all I had been through sadness was the only one who stuck around, my only constancy in a tide of change.


	7. Of Cons and Men

"I think I may have found some informants who can give us a start," Allura said excitedly.

I was sitting in Corran and Allura's beach-side condo discussing our plan of attack. We were all surrounding a cork board covered in papers and articles all relating to the case. I had added the police files to the corner. Allura was staring intently at the papers as if trying to find some new evidence, Corran was in the kitchen making tea.

"Allura, no offense but why do you care so much about this case?" I asked the minute I had added the file and showed them the audio recording she had squealed with delight.

She hesitated a bit, "It's not something I want to get into right now."

I didn't ask anymore, I didn't need too, we were one in the same. Without knowing anything I could tell she had lost a lot in her life. Now both of us were desperately holding onto what we had left, and reaching to get back what was lost.

"Who are these informants?" I asked changing the subject.

"A man named Rolo and a girl called Nyma. They are Galran exporters, but they will do anything for some extra cash."

I stare at her, she wants to trust actual Galra thugs to not only give us information but to not rat us out either. "What do the export?"

"Drugs mostly, they have a ship that goes to England and they unload there. The Galra are known for their vast drugs exchange." She replied. "They are willing to give us any information we need for cash. I know they probably aren't the most trustworthy people, but it's a start right?"

That seemed to be her catchphrase, "It might not be much but it's a start" almost as if she was desperately trying to keep the case going.

"Okay well then let's go." I sighed.

"Alright, do we have everything?" Corran asked rifling through a duffel bag.

Allura smiled and took it from him, "Yes everything is in the bag, I just know I am forgetting something."

she tapped her foot and thought as hard as she could, giggling I called out things in an attempt to help, Corran decided to join me.

"Sunscreen."

"Baby oil"

"Neckties"

"Rubber ducks."

She glared at us but couldn't keep the amusement from her eyes. Then she slammed her palms together and excitedly called out, "Code names!"

I blinked and said, "What?"

"We can't go and give our real names to actual cons now can we?"

"Well yeah maybe you can't but I've already got a false name, Pidge Gunderson," I replied.

"No that's your street name, sure, for now, it could work but if you go about throwing out the name Pidge for everything the dots will connect. I'm thinking you go by Darrell Stroker. It's a name that isn't too common to be suspicious but also not so unique it's obvious." Allura said taking in my face, "You look kind of like a Darrell anyways."

I crossed my arms and asked, "And what shall your code name be O' giver of names?"

She thought for a moment and then grinned and said, "Fara Stroker should do."

"Yeah, such a common name. And besides, we look so much alike the last name thing shouldn't be a red flag." I stated sarcastically.

Allura grinned, rolled her eyes, and went into her room to change.

"Here you should change too," Corran said handing me a bag of clothes. I went into the bathroom to change.

I took off my hoodie and stared at my reflection, I looked so much like Matt with my hair so short. I shook my head and dried my eyes. I turned back to the bag and opened it; inside was a black tee shirt and jeans.

When I came out I had to do a double-take, Allura was wearing a black wig that was much shorter than her actual hair.  
"Can't ever be too careful."

I shrugged and went with it.  
Allura checked her watch and said,"We had best be going, it's bad practice to be late." She grabbed the bag from Corran and we went outside. The familiar salty breeze ripped at us and almost took off Allura's wig.

"Make sure to text me when you arrive and after you leave." Corran called as we walked out the door."And please be careful."

I turned and waved at him while Allura called out her promise to abide by his rules. We got into her car and we drove off, praying this wouldn't be a mistake.

Allura parked a few blocks away from the meeting spot. We were in the warehouse district of a nearby city and it was full of, well, warehouses. She finished up her message to Corran and turned to me with an uncertain smile.

"I've never done this before, let's hope it goes well." She said handing me a handgun, which I put in my waistband. It took a second to register what she had said and I sat up and grabbed her arm, disbelief in my mind.

"You're an FBI agent, how have you never gone under cover before? That's like 90% of the job."

Her smile became sheepish and she replied, "Well, technically, I wasn't a field agent."

"But wh-what did you do then?" I stuttered.

She sighed and said, "I was the, um, secretary of the assistant to the chief of the Information and Technology Branch. In Boise Idaho."

"How the fuck did you even find out about this case?" I yelled.

"Oh come on Pidge, my job was to run coffees between departments and I just learned, by ear as they say. The advisor brought some agents from our branch to help investigate and my interest was piqued." She pulled my hand off of her arm and started fidgeting with her wig. I noticed her hands were shaking slightly and it wasn't from her outburst. She was scared, this was her first time in the field. "I happen to want the Galra gone just as much as you so that's why I am here, this is the closest lead anyone's had to catching them."

"Well yeah but-" I was interrupted by a rapping on the glass. I turned and saw a tall pair of figures. The broader one was leaning against the door using his forearm and the slimmer one was behind him with her arms crossed. The streetlight illuminated their silhouettes so I couldn't see their faces.

I glanced at Allura and her grim expression told me, this was Nyma and Rolo.

We got out of the car and followed them to a seemingly random warehouse, Nyma lifted the garage door. Allura clung to the duffel bag through it all.

"So, you got the cash or?" Rolo drawled out, clearly used to these deals.

Before Allura could hand over the money I held out an arm, "How do we know this isn't some trap, or that you'll just tell your bosses about us?" I asked glaring.

It was silent while everyone was still, the light from the street provided a small orange glow. One that neither Nyma nor Rolo seemed ready to bring inside. Then the two cons laughed.

"Please,"Nyma giggled,"They aren't our bosses. Without us, this branch would be nothing. And we do anything for some extra cash, you aren't the only ones to ask us about those purple dicks."

"Yeah, Nyma d'you remember those cops that badgered us about a year ago," Rolo grinned, he said the next words slowly savoring the reaction he wanted to get, "A father and son duo who managed to take down half the mob."

I lowered my hand and stared at them in disbelief. "H-how did, do you-"

"Aww Katie those goons have spread your picture everywhere, you are their most wanted at the moment." Nyma teased, "We knew you off the bat."

Rolo looked past me and smirked, "And you look like that agent they had a few years ago. The one time they killed an FBI field agent, I saw that recording, dreadful thing."

I looked at Allura and she was shaking worse than ever. She dropped the bag and kicked it at the pair in one swift motion, pleasantly hitting Rolo in the face. "You have your money, now tell us how we can find them." She yelled.

Rolo barely flinched at getting smacked in the face by several hundred dollars and some canvas. He caught the bag and gave to Nyma who began counting the cash. He took a deep breath and began to spin his tale.

"They have plans for a new drug, GAC, it's supposed to be this really big stuff too. Like the high is bigger than anything else from what I heard. They haven't said where they got it but they have a shit ton of this stuff. The side effects are worse than fucking krokodil.

"Whenever they want to add a new drug to the load they have a party of sorts. It throughs off suspicion I guess, but they gather all the local officers to get their supplies and celebrate the addition of more next one is this weekend in Milton, at this big abandoned warehouse. We were supposed to go, but we don't particularly feel like making that drive and since failure to show up is subject to punishment, you have to attend in our stead."

Allura and I were silent. It couldn't be that easy.

"Of course,"Nyma piped up,"It's not that easy. You have to represent us and use a proper rendezvous and all that, which we will help you with. However they can't see your faces, or else they will know. Now conveniently they almost always do it as a masquerade so you will need a mask anyways. But you have to stay under the radar, gather your intel and give them the meet point, but you can't leave early without being spotted so you have to stay the entire time and can't be late. If you blow it you will be killed."

Rolo and Nyma gave us the invites, which turned out to be actual knives, the blades were silver and the handle was decorated with the same insignia that was trapped on Keith's biceps. Of course, my mind would drift to him at this moment. He seemed to be in everything about the Galra. _I missed him._

We left not long after and formulated a plan back at the condo before parting ways. I went back to my hotel, praying the manager wouldn't see me and ask me for more money. I got through and made it to my room.

I sighed and prepared for a night of relaxation. Unfortunately, as soon as I entered I was confronted by a pissed off Keith.

"So you go and make plans to talk to Galra drug dealers, smart." He growled.

I glared at him, by breaking point was near.

"I mean it wasn't enough to get a cop in this and now an FBI agent?" He continued."How far will you take this before you get killed?"

My breaking point snapped, I grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him around, slamming his back against the door. I got up as close to his face as my short stature would allow and growled at him, "Maybe if you hadn't thrown a tantrum when I partnered up with Takashi I could have gone to you, but you blew the chance to be a part of this when you proved yourself a coward."

My words were biting, the feeling of sadness roared with approval. I knew I had hit him in a bruise. He didn't look at me as he took my hands off his shirt.

His last words before he left were, "This was a mistake." Whether he meant my reaction or his intervention I couldn't tell.

I didn't care. I lay on my bed and got thought through the plan again. My thoughts strayed not long after, soon my mind was on Matt. His laugh and corny jokes. My dad and his bad cooking and tired eyes that always lit up when I showed him my latest project.

And then it was on my mother, how the last I saw of her was a water soaked smile and her booming laugh. How she had always hated the ocean but took Matt and I because we loved it. How it was the very ocean outside my window that took her.


	8. Shall we Dance?

**OKAY, lovely authors note. So this chapter is pretty messed up and it has death and just graphic things in it. This chapter is where all warnings will start to apply especially the gore and drug use as well as underage alcohol use so be aware of this before you read, I don't want anyone hurt by this.**

The truth? This mission was a shit fest. I mean it was like dog shit got mixed with sewage and was left to ferment in Caribbean sunlight for six weeks and two days and then thrown into a blender. The mixture was then poured into a martini glass that hadn't been washed since the summer of 1973 and given a little umbrella made of used garbage bags as a garnish.  
It was that bad.

Well, it started well enough. Allura and I got together a disguise. I would be wearing a green tux with a matching lion mask and she would be wearing a white dress with a matching mouse mask. Easy. Nyma was taller than Rolo and with some long sleeves, no one would notice a change in skin tone. We wouldn't have to say anything as long as we got all the critical information for the pair we could do as we pleased.

The thing is, I knew it was a bad idea. How would we, two average people who grew up around law enforcement pretend to be a part of the world's biggest mob? But a part of me didn't care. It was like going to this event would make my family suddenly appear, I would go home and there they would be; hugging me and laughing. Stupid, I know.

Another problem was that Keith wasn't the only one hell-bent on reaching me. Lance and Hunk, who seemed to suddenly side with Shiro, left messages at the hotel desk. Hunk even paid for an extra month in my room. Shiro was more discreet. He would see me outside and try to catch me alone so of course, I was rarely alone anymore. I ignored all of their attempts to contact me.

With all of their attempts though, they didn't seem to know my plan. Keith was still too scared to confront a cop.

It didn't matter. The day came and Allura and I were ready. We made it to the abandoned building and were welcomed in at the sight of the knives. The party was strange. I was expecting a group of people sitting at a table scheming, instead, there were hundreds of bodies packed inside, mingling and laughing. Waiters were carrying trays of drinks and there was a classical band on a platform. We were shocked but did our best to roll with it. Our outfits seemed to do a good job helping us blend in, we barely got a second glance as everyone flitted around talking. The crowd switched up so often it was hard to keep track of anyone. The building must have been a ballroom of sorts, once elegant and dazzling; Now it was faded and cracked.

"Okay," She whispered after we got used to the sight,"So we need to find out about the Altea mob. Then we can figure out more from there."

"Got it," I affirmed and started walking off.

"Woah I don't want to spilt up."

"Allu-Nyma, no one else is sticking into one group, we can't hang off each other all evening," I whispered as she grabbed my arm. She chewed her lip and let go of me reluctantly. I gave her an encouraging smile and started walking away. She fidgetted with her mask a bit before branching off alone.

I navigated the crowd and ended up by the bar.

"Well aren't you a young one?" A voice called out. I turned and saw a large man with beady eyes and really fancy clothing he had taken off his mask in favor of wearing his booze. He laughed loudly at my lack of response and said, "Guess they can never start too young."

He guessed for me to sit beside him, I cautiously sat on the stool next to him.

"How young can a drug pusher even be, you look twelve."

I gritted my teeth and replied, "I'm eighteen actually." My voice rose a bit at the lie but he didn't seem to notice.

"Hah, well why not." He said before asking the barman for a few more drinks. The guy looked slightly annoyed but complied handing the strange man two more glasses full of amber liquid. "Here enjoy."

He handed one to me and I sipped it cautiously, the drink burned my throat and it took everything in me not to cough. While my eyes watered I noticed one of the guests had a gun in his waist band. _Weapons aren't allowed inside except the invite_.  
I was about to follow him when the man beside me spoke up again.  
"My name is Lobos by the way, I'm a kingpin in this city, what's your name?"

Struggling to keep my voice low I replied, "Rolo." My eyes roamed over the crowd but he was gone.

Laughter erupted from the other side of Lobos. " You are not a kingpin, you've barely even been a drug pusher."

"Oh yeah, Haxus? And who made the biggest sale in the country just last month? I seem to recall your sales flatlining lately." Lobos retorted.

The two looked ready to really start fighting. I edged away, not wanting to be part of any big events. Suddenly the music stopped and a voice spoke over the speakers.

"Welcome all to our lovely get together." A speaker called out from the platform. "You information for the next deal will be found within your local business stops, that is all."

Haxus grunted, "Why even throw a party when the next move is just to go where we always go? Haggar must be losing her mind."  
"It's the illusion of grandeur. It makes people feel-" I began, trying to keep up the conversation. Two high up drug pushers had to know more than the average person.  
 _BANG. BANG. BANG._

Three gun shots echoed through the crowd and everyone fell silent. The source was coming from the top of a table, the man from earlier had his gun out and he wasn't alone.  
Rather than panic everyone became angry. "Those damn Blade bastards." Someone said.  
It soon became apparent that very few people were actually listening to the no weapons rule, even the bar tender was somehow able to hide an AK-47 under the bar.  
The 'blade bastards' began marching simultaneously towards the stage.  
A man, their leader perhaps, threw off his hood and called out to the angry crowd.  
The name Ulaz was hissed through the crowd.

"Well what's wrong, we're, all the same, are we not? Especially seeing as we will both be in competition for GAC, of course, we plan to get the upper hand." He smiled and motioned for others to do the same, soon roughly eighty people had pulled off their masks and pulled out guns of varying size. They began open fire and so did the Galra. I threw my self down and began crawling around.

"Allura!" I yelled, even if she was nearby the sound of bullets and falling bodies was enough to make anyone deaf. I hid behind the bar, the bartender lay beside me and took a hand gun he had underneath for safety.

The sounds continued and a hand reached the side of the bar, I panicked and tried to shoot but of course, the safety was on so I opted to smack it with the butt of the gun.

"Ahh" a voice yelled, and I recognized it. The arm connected to the hand came around and I saw the face. A face which had no mask and was in the most 80's outfit ever.

"Keith, what the fuck are you-" once again I was cut off this time though it was less violent.

"Katie of my god." He said as he clung to me. I hesitated before wrapping my arms around his torso."I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"What are you doing here?"

"I heard about your plan from Corran, and I knew it was risky so I asked some fellow ex Galra to help out and I didn't think they would actually open fire knowing you were here!" He rambled.

"Wa-wa-wait, you brought those gun wielding maniacs here? What the hell were you thinking?" I yelled back.

He came out of the hug and grabbed my arm, "Look, let's talk later, we can't stay here."

Before I could respond he pulled me away from the bar and behind a small tree in a pot.  
"C'mon lets get out of here."

"Wait what about Allura?"

"Shiros got her, he's already outside." He replied.

"Oh, now you trust that asshole after he betrays me."

"It's a long story, he didn't betray you, just let's go."  
I pulled my hand out of his grip and glared at him, "Explain now or I'm not going anywhere."

Keith stared at me in disbelief, "Katie nearly everyone in here is shooting a gun, get some fucking perspective."

The shooting sounds were beginning to slow, something told me that whichever side won I wouldn't want to be found. I growled a bit and pulled Keith behind a cracked pillar. We continued this sort of duck and run method circling the ballroom in an attempt to reach the exit. There were bodies everywhere and it was hard not to look at them. Blood coated the floor and the sickly smell of metal and gunpowder was overwhelming. The shooting was starting to slow and with a quick glance, it was apparent the winners would be the Galra. We made it to the door and threw all caution to the wind by sprinting outside. I expected it to be empty save Allura and Shiro, but we came face to face with Haxus and Lobos. Neither seemed ready to go back inside.

"Ah, Rolo you..." Lobos started before Haxus began to laugh. "Whats so funny now?"

"He thought traveling all this way would hide him, he fell into the Galra clutches anyway," Haxus said. It took a moment to understand, when I turned to look at Keith he was pale, and his hands shook slightly.

"Haxus," He said. "Funny running into you here. If you could just-"

I hadn't realized Keith had taken my knife but he ran straight for Haxus with it. He managed to give him a good sized cut on the jaw before Lobos intervened. He kicked Keith in the back of the leg and caused him to fall to the floor with a grunt. Haxus pulled out his gun and held it to Keiths face.

"Fighting your own kind, tsk tsk tsk." Haxus reprimanded. More Galra were coming this way and from the looks, on their faces, they knew Keith too. My mind was running wild, we were cornered with no chance to get out. At least Keith was. _If he could just shake Haxus..._

 _Bang_

The shot was swift, and surprising enough that everyone froze, all eyes turned to me. My acquired gun was still smoking. I hadn't been aiming for his head, my target had been his arm. But even so, Haxus fell with a resounding thud. His glabella red from the new hole in his skull. My vision was fuzzy.

"Pidge, what the hell." Keith was giving me a look of fear and pity. Before he could speak again the other Glara began laughing.

Lobos shouted, "How resilient of you young one, you made our job easier."

Suddenly a hand was over my mouth and my vision went black.

"Pidge, Pidge wake up." The voice drifted in and out of my head. My arm was shaking, or was some one shaking it? I flexed my fingers a bit and felt the gun still in it. I shot up and threw it as far away as I could. Surveying the area told me I was on the ground, near Haxus' body.

 _I did that, one minute he was alive and breathing and because of this un godly power, I took that away._

My head throbbed and I turned away from the garbled voices trying to talk to me. I emptied my guts of the booze I had drunk. My eyes watered worse, or maybe I was crying. It was hard to tell.

"Hey, Pidge can you hear me?" A voice said stroking my back when I finished hacking. I nodded. "Okay take some deep breaths. You're okay."

I turned to look at my helper and saw Hunk. By his shoulders were Shiro and Lance. "Wh-wheres Allura?" I asked.

"She's trying to get a car started, the one you came in was stolen," Shiro replied.

My brain must still have been drugged because I started to laugh, just a giggle at first but then I was laughing so hard I went back to crying. Everyone looked really freaked out.

"An FBI agent stealing a car with three cops not giving a shit. It's ironic." I explained. This didn't help to ease their concern but Lance cracked a small smile.

My eyes landed back on Haxus and my face fell. Shiro followed my line of sight. "I know, there were a lot of deaths tonight. After we leave I'll inform the local authorities, if they don't already know."

I licked my lips and shook my head, "I- He... His name is-was Haxus. I'm the one that-that."

I couldn't finish so I just made a finger gun and pretended to shoot him, realization dawned on everyone and the plaguing concern morphed into horror.

"He was going to kill you right? You wouldn't shoot some one for no reason, right?" Lance said.

"He was going to kill Keith and... Keith! Oh my god, where is he?" I said standing up. I started to run around the area calling his name as loud as possible.

"We thought he had run off." Hunk replied while Shiro and Lance stopped me. I tried to fight them off but to no avail. My eyes scanned the dark sky.

I shook my head, "How long was I out?"

"Maybe an hour. Why, did something happen to him?" Lance said, starting to pick up some concern of his own.

A car came over, a four door Nissan to be exact. The window rolled down and Allura stuck her head out, "Okay let's- whats wrong?"

I pulled myself from the guy's grasp and bolted to the car. "Allura! We have to go now, the Galra they took Keith and we have to get him back."

"What would the Galra want with him?" Hunk asked coming up beside me.

 _Fuck it, if I don't tell them they won't help._ "He's an ex galra. They are going to kill him if we don't hurry."

How did I know he's not dead already? The Galra keep themselves from getting caught by having all killings look like suicided and an accident. It's brutal but it worked.

I expected my words to get everyone riled up and ready for the fight, only Lance seemed to have my back.

"Okay, let's go." He said climbing in the car, "Where would the nearest body dump be?"

I slide next to him in the backseat, "Back in Altea I'd say, the local branch would want to be told about him."

Lance looked outside and asked, "Well C'mon, we need to help him."

I saw Hunk hesitate and Shiro's face hardened. Allura's face was hidden but her grip on the steering wheel turned her knuckle white. My stomach sunk. They aren't going to help us.

"Of course, Keith said I could trust you Takashi, but he was wrong." I got out of the car. Lance followed suit.

"PIdge, look I was using the money Iverson gave me to fuel our search, I wasn't leading you on I swear. But Keith brought the Blade of Marmora to this event, against all of our orders. He could have been using this as a way to betray you." Shiro said trying so hard to look sympathetic that it failed.

"Once a Galra always a Galra." A voice behind me said. I turned and saw Allura, was facing forward refusing to look at me, her face was set.

Hunk looked on the edge, like he wanted desperately to side with me but couldn't justify it.

"Okay," Lance said. He grabbed my hand and dragged me away from the car. We picked out a red Lexus.

Lance hotwired it and we drove off. All the while Shiro and Allura were trying to stop us and Hunk was holding them back.

We didn't speak for the time it took to get back to town. The clock on the dash board told me it was 3 am. The town was small as far as towns went, but it soon became obvious finding Keith would be hard. At least that's what I thought until a black Porsche with black windows sped by us, on the wrong side of the road.

"There," I said pointing.

"How do you know?"

"They always prefer dark cars during an execution, that's how my dad caught the first string, by intercepting their cars."

Lance nodded and we trailed them. Suddenly Lance pulled up into a gas station.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"If they see us we will be caught, besides where does Arus road lead?" He reasoned.

I nodded and we set out on foot. It took a little longer but we managed to make it to the bottom of the Cove Caves cliff.

There were six figures holding down Keith. His arms were tied and his feet were bound.

"This isn't the best time, being low tide and all. But this way your death will be slower." One of them spoke.

"Hey!" I yelled they turned to me and Keith really started to freak out. "Put him down, now."

Lance helped by pulling out his gun and aiming at them. I strode up to the group with Lance close behind.

"Or what? You gonna shoot us like you shot Haxus?" Another one replied. Word sure traveled fast.

I was about to reply that that was exactly our plan when realization dawned on their faces.

"You're the Holt girl aren't you?"

Keith began to shake his head but I nodded. "You let him go and I'll go with you."

"Pidge no," Lance exclaimed lowering his gun. That gave them a chance to strike, five of the Glara hefted out guns of their own and the last one kicked Keith down the hill to our feet.

"Sorry but no deal, we get both no exceptions."

Lance had his hands up. The Galra walked towards us and I stepped over Keith as I forced them the turn a bit, Lance allowed me to lead. After the slight turn I took my chance, if they had wanted me alive a week ago then they surely still wanted me alive now.

I ran up the cliff in hopes that Lance would untie Keith and follow me up. As I ran he didn't stop them so I found myself overlooking the city. The guard rail barely reached my hips. After all my time spent yelling at the horror movies that obviously it was a dead end, I became one of them. The wind was picking up and I could tell a storm was imminent.

"Surrender now little girl, maybe you can help loosen some tongues." One of them said.

I backed up until I felt the rail against me. The metal creaked from years of wear. I stared them down, daring them to shoot their guns.

 _BANG_

The men were startled and turned to see who had fired their gun.

"Well if it isn't Takashi."

But Shiro wasn't looking at them, his gun was still up in the air and he was staring at me, silently asking if I was okay. His bullet was a blank. How he had managed to catch up to us this fast was a mystery. I leaned against the rail, wondering how we would get out of this. The metal was weak, and the water below was treacherous. A distraction would probably give Shiro enough time to make a break for it.

I used my back to push into the railing while they were still talking.I felt the metal give away and Shiro was calling my name.I fell, suppressing my screams as I went I tumbled to the cold was almost too much to bear and I gasped as soon as I hit, inhaling a bit of water. The Cove caves were below, boarded up. I allowed the waves to carry me. I felt my body hit the boards. The bottom one was loose and the current pulled me through. I thought wildly about a dog door. I hit the other side of the cave and stood, hacking up a lung. The cave was small as maybe five feet in length and ten in height.

Luckily it was low tide, otherwise, the cave would be full of water. The waves were strong and came to my chest though and they were almost impossible for me to fight. I began scrabbling at the wall, trying desperately to get a hold so I wouldn't keep getting pushed around.

Suddenly I felt something soft. I gripped it hard and pulled, I came up with a shoe. A black Adidas to be exact. I screeched and almost dropped it.  
Something in me froze, my stomach dropped. _My father had these kinds of shoes._  
I looked carefully at the heel, searching for the telltale bleach stain, and I found it. _He was doing the laundry when he spilled the bleach. They were his favorite pair._ My hands shook as I pulled open the sock to see what was inside. I saw a white bone, _I found you, dad._

My sobs and retching mingled as they echoed through the cave and it took a while before I heard my name being called. I put the shoe tenderly into my jacket and made my way to the front slowly. I felt other shoes under my feet and tried so hard not to keep track of how many I passed. A few times I stepped on limbs and bones, people who had been recently dumped.

I slapped my hands against the boards and yelled. "Keith, Lance. I'm over here."

I heard more splashing and someone was banging on the wood.

"Katie! Katie, don't worry we got you!" Keith called. There was even louder banging and Lance fell through the boards. I had barely given him a surprised look when Keith pulled me out and was hugging me.

"ohmygodohmygodohmygod..." He rambled. Lance crawled out behind me and stood close by. I looked over Keith's shoulder and saw Allura and Hunk, their guns were out and they were keeping watch. "C'mon," Keith said leading me to the beach.

Without the water surrounding me, I began to shiver and I saw Lance was in the same boat.

"Pidge, are you alright?" Allura said when we came over to her. I didn't even try to speak I just fell to my knees and pulled out the shoe.

"I-," I couldn't seem to speak, my eyes were trapped on the remnants of my father. I licked my lips and swallowed, cringing at the salty taste. "I found my dad."

It was barely a whisper but it was clear everyone heard me. It didn't take long for them to put it together. They didn't ask for any confirmation or proof. I bent down to my knees and started digging. The others didn't join at first but Lance was the first to start helping. Soon we were all silently digging, even Allura dropped her gun to help. It took about ten minutes to dig a six-foot hole with all of us working.

I laid my father down at the bottom. Keith wrapped his arm around me while I shivered, but I wasn't cold. Hunk and Lance buried him and I watch, sobbing quietly.

The ocean was loud, the waves continued and the Earth still spun, but my world froze. Long after Samuel Holt was buried we stood there. Until the cold became too unbearable and the pain to sharp. I was the first to start walking. I didn't have a clear destination in mind, but it didn't matter the others followed as I lead them to the last semblance of home I had left.


	9. Lies vs Truth

AN There is a song called fast car used in this chapter, I recommend looking it up because it sets a good tone for this chapter and the next few and it's just a good song all around. (link: url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=video&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiUkvbR_-bVAhUJVyYKHTShD0cQtwIILjAB&url=https%3A%2F% .com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DuTIB10eQnA0&usg=AFQjCNH18353YV2hkuWVS3-mCqWkXax2Ow)

Shiro was taken by the Galra; This fact became apparent as we searched for him. There was no sign of struggle, no scuff marks in the dirt or blood on the grass. He was just gone. Lance and Hunk wanted to keep looking but we knew it wouldn't be safe.

The closest building at this point was Keith's shack, so that's where we went. That last shining castle on a hill, the symbol of home. The constant in a tide of change. The impenetrable fortress.

"Shit," Keith exclaims as we lay eyes on the still smoldering wreckage of his shack. The galra sure knew how to clean up their messes.  
He runs up and starts to dig for anything salvageable. I am the first to try helping and Lance follows me, we are both soaking wet and shivering. Hunk and Allura join after a moment, both of them seemed ashamed.

I grab what looks like the last of his bed and jump back, of course, fire is hot and things previously on fire tend to follow that pattern for a while. My hands burn a bit and my eyes water slightly.  
Hunk notices me. Of course, he does. His mouth twists into a lopsided grimace and he gently leads me to the sand. I sit down. The others continue their search, finding the occasional item and dropping it next to me. Half a book, a pair of shoes, some bottles of possible water.  
I cross my legs and hug myself, my wet clothes are freezing in the breeze. Someone draped a jacket over me. It was Keith's red one. I pull it on and savor the bit of warmth. The sleeves fell past my fingers and the bottom reached my hips. It was so comforting, I almost started to cry again.

I look around and notice Lance wearing Keith's old jacket, the one he always had on before going under cover. His most prized possession, covering the body of some one else. This calms me, knowing Keith is finally showing some trust to other people.

It takes maybe twenty minutes of searching for the group to quit. A few clothes and some water bottles were all that could be salvaged. We have no choice but to make the trek to Alluras condo on foot. The walk is quiet and heavy, no one seemed to want to talk about what had just happened.

"You got a fast car, I want a ticket to anywhere, Maybe we make a deal, Maybe together we can get somewhere, Anyplace is better," A voice hummed quietly. It was nice and soothing, "Starting from zero got nothing to lose, Maybe we'll make something, Me myself I got nothing to prove."

Lance was trying to pass the time, he gave me a small smile and continued, "You got a fast car I got a plan to get us out of here I been working at the convenience store, Managed to save just a little bit of money, Won't have to drive too far, Just 'cross the border and into the city, You and I can both get jobs, And finally see what it means to be living."

Keith decided to join, "You see my old man's got a problem, He live with the bottle that's the way it is, He says his body's too old for working, His body's too young to look like his, My mama went off and left him, She wanted more from life than he could give I said somebody's got to take care of him, So I quit school and that's what I did."

"You got a fast car, Is it fast enough so we can fly away, We gotta make a decision, Leave tonight or live and die this way ." Hunk and Allura sank together. How we all knew the same song was a miracle.

They all began singing. Lance's voice was soft and beautiful, Keiths was rough and unpolished but still nice, Hunks was warm it filled the soul, Allura's voice was graceful. The song was quiet and filling.

I can't say for sure what my voice sounded like to the others, maybe it was because I hadn't spoken since we buried my father, but they all stopped to stare at me when I sang out the last part of the song, "You got a fast car, But is it fast enough so you can fly away, You gotta make a decision, Leave tonight or live and die this way."

We let the final note fill us in silence, I didn't stop walking so they had to continue.

By the time we reached Allura's condo we were all dead on our feet. Corran didn't seem all too surprised by our state.

"I assume the mission was a failure like I told you it would be." He said, but he wasn't looking at Allura.

"I'm sorry," Keith replied.

Corrans expression softened, "You all look beat, why don't you rest." I shove my thoughts aside and let weariness control me.

We took that advice with gusto, each of us collapsed on the nearest piece of furniture. Lance took the recliner while Hunk and I took the couch. Allura and Keith shared the love seat.

I curled onto my side and faced the cushions while the others told Corran what happened. He once again didn't show any sign of surprise, his reactions more closely resembled that of horror. Everyone was feeling anxious, Lance and Hunk kept pushing to go look for Shiro; But it had been hours, he was at their base by now. Allura won't stop pacing.

"Allura can you please give it a rest, all this pacing will just make you more nervous." Hunk said ignoring how his hands fidgeted on the couch.

She shakes and her with a frustrated sigh while she talks her hands begin running through her hair roughly, barely catching at any tangles, "Something is missing, it was like everyone was prepared for the attack. I bet Nyma and Rolo set us up. We should have seen this sooner, we should-"

"Allura, breathe," Lance says walking up to the girl and gripping her arms in his hands, "Look there's nothing we can do to change what happened and beating yourself up won't fix anything."

She takes and few deep breathes and looks into Lance's eyes. A sort of understanding passes between them and they break apart smoothly; Both have small smiles on their faces.

"Whatever the case we can't just sit here, Shiro is missing. We have to make a plan." Hunk said after they sat back down.

I let the conversation dull into white noise. My mind is drifting down dark places while I try desperately not to let it. I don't notice any of the others until Keith bends over me. I turn my head a bit and he gives me a smile, I readjust myself until we are eye level.

"How did you know what I was up too?"

He snorts a bit," Katie, I may not have agreed with you but I would never leave you alone. Corran was the one to track me down and tell me what was going on. He found me because I was tipping the manager of your hotel to make sure you were safe."

I wasn't overly surprised but his words still touched me. "Why did you bring the blade of Marmora with you?"

"They were the ones to help me set up a new life here, I didn't think their rivalry would take over that much. I really am sorry."

"Keith, my father is dead." I say bluntly, " Matt is probably in that cave somewhere too. But I can't let them continue with this. They have a plan, they want to do something. If they get away with it I'm not sure what will happen but it won't be good."

He looks at me, the room is quiet. I hadn't realized that everyone had started listening. I expected to look around and see the apprehension in their faces. But everyone looked determined.  
We were going to solve this mystery even if it kills us.  
And by God would it.


	10. Some Light Felonies

Of course, it wouldn't be easy to find a new lead. When it was realized that Shiro was, in fact, missing Iverson had Lance and Hunk head the search. This took all of a week for him to sort out. In that time our little posse accomplished a big load of nothing. Reports of what happened at the party made its way to Altea. The headline 'Crazed Drunkies Get into a Shootout' once again proves how incompetent to media can be.

Allura couldn't get ahold of Nyma or Rolo, their warehouse was empty when we went back and there was no trace of a Nyma Hunter or Rolo Beezer in the town files, or any of the surrounding towns for that matter.  
It wasn't until we were nearing the second week of nothing that Allura got a lead. More specifically she heard about a guy from a guy who might know about the Galra.

She was supposedly a friend of Lobos and might be willing to help us. Of course, we took this with a grain of salt. But Allura was raring to go so she dragged Keith and I off to a small car shop in the middle of town.  
When we got inside the lobby was empty, we tried calling for someone but no one answered. Keith swore he heard music coming from the working area so we went to check that out.

Placed in the center of the cluttered garage was a red 2001 Pontiac Aztek. Keith cringed slightly at the sight of such a car.  
"You know usually when people want their car fixed they drive to my shop." An old voice called behind us. We turned around to see a woman wiping off a wrench in a sink.  
She walk towards us with a stern face and a hint of a smile. She didn't look like someone who would work in a car shop, her limbs were long and lanky with no real muscle definition to them. Her eyes were startling blue and her hair was a light gray from age. Her clothes were covered in grease and oil. The only real color was a blood red bindi in the center of her forehead.

"You are Ryner correct? An old friend of Lobos?" Allura asked breaking the silence.  
I wasn't sure what kind of reaction I expected, anger over the thought of him or maybe she would stall us until more Galra arrived. What I didn't expect was the laugh she let loose.

"That old sot? Yeah, we were friends he used to co-own this place with me before I kicked him out of the deal for keeping his drugs in here. He hasn't spoken to me in weeks, how's he been?" Ryner replied.

"Dead," Keith answered blankly, it was true the identities of most of the dead from the shoot out had been released just yesterday and Lobos' name was glaring back when we read the paper.

Again Ryner surprised me,"And good riddance I say, now who are you guys?"

"My name is Allura and this is Pidge and Keith. We are looking for information on the Galra syndicate."

"No, you're not." She replied.

"Uh, not what mam?" I asked.

"You're not Pidge you're Katie Holt I saw you on the news almost a year ago.  
Of course, I know you, you're that girl whose mom died and in the span of a few months lost her brother and father. Aren't you a little young though? It is a school day, are you skipping?" She asked.

I blushed a bit, my academic abilities had always been boasted by my family. I was already applying to colleges before I lost everything, "I quit 'Mam. My mind has been elsewhere lately."

"I read about all your accomplishments in the paper. You were ready to go far, but the worst happens to the best." Ryner replied solemnly, I don't respond. "Course, if you wanted I could help you out, my cousin went to MIT and they still have their textbooks, you could probably borrow them."

My whole life I had wanted to study computer science and whether it be from MIT or a community college I didn't care. The ability to access the world's knowledge with a few clicks was so enticing. Some people could be applying to their first job while others could read a crappy detective fan fiction or it could be done by the same person at the same time. But here was a practical stranger offering me books from MIT for free.

After the shock wore off I nod my head vigorously. Ryner laughs and promises to ask. This woman is a mystery to me. For someone so close to the Galra she is so kind and unlike everything, I knew about them.

"So Ryner you don't know where he moved his business do you?" Keith interjected.  
She pursed her lips and set her wrench on the hood of the Pontiac.

"Couldn't tell you for sure, I have a vague idea of where he went but other than that I got nothing. He got a job at the ice cream parlor at the Unilu strip center maybe you could check that out."

"Thank you, Ryner," Allura said, "you don't know the name of the shop do you?"

The two exchanged phone numbers with a promise to keep in touch should anything new arise.

Corran was surprisingly against the whole plan.  
"The Unilu strip center is nothing but a vagrant riddled mess. I cannot allow any of you to go there."

"Corran you can't allow or disallow is to do anything, I'm going." I seethed.

"Pidge listen I know you want to find your family, but running into such a dangerous place won't help. The whole place could be Galra infested and you'd end up in the same place as your brother." Corran mediated.

"No Corran, my family is probably dead. What I want to prevent this from happening again." My voice shook.

No one spoke after that.

********  
Allura and Pidge later left to get a scope of the area they would soon be infiltrating. They went to the local library to view the original plans of the parlor that Lobos worked at.  
Meanwhile, Lance and Hunk came back to the seaside condo to get caught up in the events they had missed. After Keith finished explaining Hunk and Lance shared a look.

"Does Pidge really not have any family left? What about her mom or any distant relatives?" Hunk translated the look for the others.

"I've been wondering the same thing, she's so hell-bent on finding her family that she left home for a year. Wouldn't her mother wonder where she was?" Corran asked.

"That's the thing," Keith said staring out the window, "Pidge really doesn't have anyone. She told me a lot that year it was just us, seeing as I was the only person she could really talk too. Her parents were only children and her grandparents died before she even met them. When her dad and brother disappeared she was alone."

"But what about her mom?" Lance asked, his shoulders were tense and his eyes were moist.

"That I don't know. She never talks about her mom." Keith said looking down.

The four sat quietly in the living room after that. Only the occasional sniff from Lance or Corran was any sign that there was life in the room.  
Keith went back to looking out the window, the sun was shining brightly. It made him uncomfortable, whenever something said is revealed the sky should take a piss on the poor inhabitants below. Allowing them to wallow in an equally miserable world. His musings were interrupted when Corran suddenly stood up. He has been watching the walk way and noticed Allura had come back, alone.

"She's gone." Allura said when she got into the house, "Pidge just disappeared."  
***********

So what if the Unilu strip was a place of drugs lords and danger? Wasn't that essentially the Galran philosophy?  
Corran was delusional, I had put myself in danger a million times over on my crusade.

The library had proved useful at least, the schematics of the parlor were old as balls but it did reveal an underground sewer entrance that could be used to easily and swiftly break in and search for clues.

Should have been easy peasy lemon squeezy right? Well no because the world just loves to make my life difficult difficult lemon difficult.

"Miss Altea, why am I not surprised you didn't listen to me?" A voice said behind us. We had been walking along the boardwalk quietly discussing what we had learned and wondering if we should get some food for everyone when HE showed up.  
I turn to see who it is and Allura freezes in place.

With out turning, she replied, "Well Iverson seeing as I didn't listen the first time you can't do anything to make me now."

His one good eye twitched at this, his cheeks colored red.

"I told you to stay off this case, I would have thought that orange haired idiot would have relayed the, ah, entirety of my message," Iverson said.

My hands curled into fists. Allura looked at me out of the corner of her eye, before I could retort she pulled me away.

"I will get you to drop this case, Allura Aleta!" He called after us.

"Why must he be so persistent." Allura sighed. "Ever since I got into town it's all he can do to make me stop looking into this case."

A memory hit me across the face, _Takashi was in his own office, door shut having what looked like a heated conversation with mustached man._

"Allura," I said stopping completely, "You and Corran have been in contact with Shiro from the get-go haven't you? And Iverson knew."

She turned to me, "Yes, I have know Shiro for a while now. He was the one to reach out to me about your family. He was the one who delivered the video of my fathers death to me.  
"I made the choice to also confide into Iverson seeing as he was a chief, but the second we finished explaining our evidence he threatened us and told us not to keep looking."

She took my arm again and we kept walking, our bodies moved forward but my mind moved back. Why was he so dedicated to preventing Allura from her investigation? Knowing Iverson it wasn't because he was worried, the man cared about two things: his job and his husband. Even with as little interaction I had had in the past showed me this much.  
So why, why threaten Allura?

When he left he was going away from the station meaning he was probably on patrol or break. Hopefully the first as that would give me more time.

Allura seemed so distracted that I was able to slip away down a nearby alley way. It took a few minutes before she started calling for me but by that time I was already on the other side of the block.

I had to go in an almost opposite direction to reach the station, I ran the entire way. Which in the ninety-degree heat wasn't fun especially after a stitch developed in my side. I made it to the station in about ten minutes breathing so hard I was doubled over, hands on my knees.  
I had long ditched my green sweatshirt and was only in my jeans and a white tank top, which showed how sweaty I was. A few people glanced my way wondering why such a small child was sweating and panting in front of the station instead of being literally anywhere else.

The station itself seemed promising and disquieting. The whole place was closed and dark, something that should never happen. I pushed this aside and began pondering how I would get in.

Iverson's office had a window, but knowing the paranoid bastard it was locked or at least alarmed. Shiro's office, however, was probably more promising.

I snuck around the side of the station, which thankfully was an empty alleyway. The only possible eyewitnesses were some birds digging through a pile of bird seed, Hunks doing probably the guy was such a teddy bear. Of course knowing Lance the seed was also mixed with laxatives so I gave them a wide berth.

Shiro's office had a small window, on which he kept small succulents, man he was one surprise after another. Luckily no one appeared to have messed with or even been in his office in a while, so told by the dust coating the window sill and the brown look to the plants.  
His window was locked but with the help of a knife, I was able to unlock it.  
The window was relatively low to the ground so I was able to get in and only knock over two plants.

Okay so it was more of a fall into the office that ended with me on my stomach surrounded by dirt and broken pottery, but tomato potato.

I groaned slightly as I sat up and mentally apologized to Shiro, promising to buy him some new succulents. I went to the door and found it locked, one look through the glass showed the only way to unlock it was a key, something Shiro had on him when he disappeared.

"Just great," I mumbled. I looked around to find a new escape root and my eyes fell on a certain something, "Well, when the door won't work try the vent."

Getting to the station ventilation required me to move his desk, which was impossible for me. So I grabbed his desk chair and prayed it didn't turn while I was on it.

I climbed on top of the chair and pushed at the vent. The chair jerked at my movement and I toppled to the ground, my legs were on the ground and my upper body was caught on the chair. My stomach muscles felt like they had been pulled.

I was about to get up when I heard the tale tell sound of foot steps, just outside the door. It was dark and the alley blocked out the light so I stayed as still as possible hoping against hope they would move on.

I tried to keep track of how long they paused at the door. 1 breath, 2. It took ten breaths for who ever it was to move on.

Tentatively I got back up, vowing to be more quiet I carefully climbed back on the chair and pushed the grate open. Using my small strength I pulled myself into the ventilation shaft. I put the grate back in place and crawled over it. I went until I was sure I was at the front of the station and tried to get my bearings.

Iverson's office was opposite to Shiro's but there was no direct route from office to office. The best way to get to it was by taking an outer route. What can I say this isn't the first time I've broken into this station, it is the first time the place is, seemingly, empty.

Of course that being said there is a disclaimer to all this, kids don't do this at home. Vent travel isn't fun. It's small, cold, cramped, and pretty dirty. Also it's confusing sometimes and it kinda feels like the walls are shrinking at times. If you want to break into a place try the back door. Or better yet lo up the building blue prints first to be more creative. If the building is public then so are the records.

Anyways back to the super caper. As I made my way through the vents I mentally sang the mission impossible theme in my head. There was a silver lining to this, I felt totally badass.

I kept looking down the grates as I passed trying to spy the other person. They never showed in my search, so the naive part of me thought they had left. At some point I had to put my sweater back on.

It took the better part of an hour to slowly creep over to Iverson's office. It gave the grate a swift kick and let it clatter to the floor. No footsteps came so I assumed safety. I put my hood on to give me some semblance of a hidden identity. There was an attempt to reach the ground carefully but it ended with my third fall of the day .

"Shit" I hissed, landing on my more injured side. Bruising was inevitable. But whatever the case I made it. Hacking his computer was the easy part.  
The password on this one was the same as what I smashed.

His desktop screen was covered in dozens of files. Each labeled with a number. I clicked on each one until I found the file on my family. I was surprised to find my moms missing person file up there, it had happened so long ago.  
I counted breaths so as to steel myself back up for this.  
Twenty-two, twenty-three.  
My chest felt tight and my toes numb, my head spun slightly.

My mom was still a huge soft spot for me. More so than my brother, of course, my dad was starting to get there.

There was nothing I didn't already know on any of them.  
I began looking deeper into the desktop. I skimmed through all the files on the computer.

Night has truly fallen.

Finally, something caught my eye. It was an unmarked file, the color was even warped to blend into the background, a milky blue color. It was almost impossible to see except for when I moved the mouse over it.

Excitedly I opened it up, I saw as it loaded it contained a video of sorts. Before I could start watching it a password box came up. I tried the usual, his husband's date of birth, but access was denied.

I tried several configurations to figure out what it could be, all denied. This called for plan B, my hacking chip.  
The decryption key was working over time, whatever was on here was very heavily guarded.  
My curiosity was peaked. The way my fingers graced the keys thrilled me. I was a certified hacker.

Finally, I made it through, the video popped up and I fought down a squeal of excitement.

It was grainy and took a second to focus in.

"Keep moving." A distant voice said.

The video focused and I saw three figures staggering up the beach. My dad, brother, and another man who looked familiar.  
The three kept walking and I noticed my family's hands were bound behind them, the stranger was causally holding a gun.

"You can't keep us out, we'll share the truth, we'll never stop," Matt said pausing to fight against his bonds.  
A gasp escaped my lips and I quickly restarted the video and downloaded it onto my thumb drive.

"Hah, and what exactly do you know? Nothing we can't erase." The stranger laughed, with a sinking feeling I realized the stranger was Haxus. His death felt more satisfying all of the sudden.

They moved out of shot and the video stayed there for a while. The moon was full, it was high tide. I heard distinct shouting and a splash. My fathers final moments.

Suddenly the light flicked on, "aha," a voice said. "And what do you think you're doing?" I quickly grabbed my drive and closed the tab.  
He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room.


End file.
